DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
文
Characters in this entry
- 文
- wén · literature, culture, writing
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
2 · wen2
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link24same-tone records
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.Read this spelling in Classical texts
Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.
Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
man1 · man2 · man4 · man6
Cantonese word readings for 文. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack
Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character
- (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) original form of 紋／纹 (wén, “mark, pattern, design, tattoo, decoration”)
- original form of 紋／纹 (wén, “to tattoo”)
- writing; literary composition; literature (Classifier: 篇 c)
- official document
- literary language; Literary Chinese
- (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 文讀／文读 (wéndú, “literary reading”)
- script; written form
- (written) language
- culture
- liberal arts; humanities
- natural or social phenomenon
- ritual; etiquette
- of a government position, non-military: civil, civilian
- gentle; refined
- 47th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "pattern, repetition" (𝌴)
- (archaic) Classifier for coins.
- (numismatics) mill (a tenth of a cent)
- (～日) (telegraphy) the twelfth day of a month
- a surname
character
- to cover
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack